Ticker Shock:  Why Wall Street-based TV Dramas  Don't Work

-- lm

Guess it looked like a pretty good idea early last year, with everybody getting rich off Internet stocks, to put some TV shows together about Wall Street, and the Market, and money in general.   Everything looked so easy, everybody was in the Market, right?  All your friends were at least, and that's certainly a representative sample.  Only problem is, can you name anything, any piece of entertainment, save for one movie -- Oliver Stone's "Wall Street" -- that ever worked in the genre?  There aren't any, and this isn't because of the individual projects and their lack of merit or not; that's nearly irrelevant to their reception.  It's deeper than that, and is more about psychology and sociology than production values.

This past season, both Fox with "The Street" and TNT with "Bull" attempted to buck the odds, to beat the market with their shows.  And to be fair, "The Street" wasn't really *about* Wall Street; it was about Sex, but still, money-manipulation was supposed to create the necessary lubrication, so its imagery and power were crucial.  And "Bull" had its share of romance, but stayed a little closer to the inherent appeal of business itself as its animus.  Only...business has no inherent appeal.  Almost none.  Although viewers have been taught to drool over the trappings of business, like expensive suits, mini-skirted skelefemmes bitching into cellphones, brand-name dropping, glimpses of snazzy restaurants and other Stella-Dallas-looking-through-the-front-window moments, once you actually get down to business, which if it's business, then the thrill is gone.

 Because much as society wallows in the love of cash, the actual getting of it -- especially if that's the core subject matter -- is less than enthralling and basically obtuse to most people.  And worse than that, it's downright embarrassing and very nearly our last taboo subject.  We want to pretend that the naughty talk on "Sex and the City" breaks the taboos, or that "Queer as Folk" is really walking on the wild side with its gay male sexual conniptions, but come on, talking about sex is easy, it's money that's hard.  For good or bad, the sex genie is way out the bottle, and Pandora's Box of Sex Toys has been ever and truly thrown open.  Not to say that sex isn't a great subject anymore; count on mankind's fascination for creative couplings to go on forever, but it's not exactly forbidden fruit anymore. 

The still-potent money taboo reflects the basic feeling held by most people, and which of course is probably true, that money isn't everything, and people who make a lot of money aren't better people, or more interesting people, than anybody else.  And it's beyond a morality stance, it's not just a religious or spiritual thing, it's almost as deep-seated a notion as gravity itself.  People who live for money, for making money -- well, there's something more than vaguely creepy about the whole notion, to a whole lot of people.  And more than merely unsettling, the skill set seems closer to alchemy than science (and probably is), and try making that accessible to viewers.  A crazed and greedy day trader on the rampage seems a more reasonable and relatable dramatic character than a partner in a brokerage firm.  Unlike lawyer shows, which although steeped in the milieu of privilege, education and cash at least can deal with real world issues and human beings, a show about Wall Street finds it very hard to bring humanity into the boardroom.  Medical shows also have a general wash of class genuflection about them, but this genre is most easily made real and human by the accurate and unbeatable addition of human suffering.  As much a part of that landscape as a falling NASDAQ is to Wall Street, at least an ailing child or an athlete with a brain tumor is more visually appealing, easier to comprehend, and might actually occur right on your own Street.

This is not to say that you can't have business on TV.  Not to beat an old bejeweled horse, but back in the days of "Dallas," "Dynasty," "Falcon Crest" and their spawn, at least we had the decency to tart up the rich bitches, paint the men larger than life, push them out of their respective corners into each others arms, and let 'er rip.  NBC tried it this past year with "Titans" and had a bomb, and this sort of illustrates the dichotomous mindset that we're in about sex and money.  We've gotten over the sex taboo, but people don't know whether TV should be allowed to poke fun at monied folks anymore; isn't having money the best thing ever?  Doesn't it confer respect and admiration? 

Not this past season.  TV wanted to lift up the moneymakers into their own category, to make them the main characters in their own grand drama.  Somewhere along the line the fact that money is a tool, a means to an end rather than the end itself, got lost in the cash-mad flush of then-current events.   We used to be content with -- and delight in -- seeing rich folks become crushed under the burden of their own bankbooks, but as it was perceived that all of America was becoming rich, which of course it was not, something went a little nuts.  TV tried to elevate the dirty business of dough-making into its own noble enterprise, and it just doesn't work.  And not to mention the lack of excitement in the business of business.  At least lawyers have to pace back and forth in front of juries and doctors get to cut people open; perhaps money business is more than just phone calls and watching the electronic ticker, but if it is, not enough people really want to stick around to find out.

And yes, of course at the heart of this effort it's all about advertisers and demographics and getting the real-life counterparts of those fictional folks to tune in so we can try to sell them expensive cars and all that other stuff, but the rejection of the Wall Street-set shows illustrates the disconnect between the hearts, minds and bankbooks of America.  Our bankbooks may or may not be flush, and our minds could be on the ups and downs of the Market, but in our hearts, we know you can't take it with you.  We'd rather watch lawyers fight for justice, and doctors fight for lives, than a stockbroker salivate over a juicy IPO.  

There's hope yet, folks....

Postscript 2003: We obviously don't have to worry about shows like these coming back anytime soon, do we?

Oliver Stone's "Wall Street"

Fox's "The Street"

TNT's "Bull"

Lest We Forget:

"Rollover"

"Boiler Room"

"The Associate"

Fascinating: